Race #99 - First Official 5K - BMO St. Patrick's Day RR

In 2004, I completed my first official 10K race. Since then I've been tracking all my races of various lengths of single or multi-sports races on a neat little excel spreadsheet.

 

Fast forward 98 races and nearly 12 years later, I completed my first 5K race (race number big nine-nine) at the BMO St. Patrick's Day 5K. Haha yes Winston, it's about freaking time. :)

 

Credit: Keith Dunn

 

 

Jen and I drove down to Burrard Bridge and parked near the neighbourhood, and mainly because I was too cheap to pay for parking. We ran a 5k warm-up, which was a distance equalling to the length of the race. I tried keeping up to Jen but she was too quick.

 

As we approached Stanley Park, it was nice bumping and brushing shoulders with so many stars. The local triathletes sure stuck out to me like sore thumbs.

 

Start time was 9:30am. The weather just cleared up as we start. We did a small counter-clockwise loop, which consists of the start on Pipeline Rd and around the Stanley Park Dr, and back onto Pipeline Rd and turn up a nasty hill to the finish. The terrain was quite rolly with a downhill start and an aggressive first turn. I liked the course, as it was challenging and fun.

 

 

Per unit kilometre of the race, I felt more pain than ever in my 12 years. A lot of hurt. I'm a bit like a truck and require a gentle ease into a good steady rhythm.  

 

The miles splits were recorded. I was surprised that my placement was pretty consistent, despite my speed gradually getting slower and slower as the hills rolled in.


Here they were:

• Mile 1 – 84th 5:28
• Mile 2 – 87th 11:24
• Mile 3 – 82nd 17:35
• Overall – 81st 18:09

I fell short of my overly-ambitious expectations of 17-something-something, however given my training, I don't think I can be too disappointed. Damn my slow-twitch muscles. Too slow and steady for this 5K stuff. 


Jen finished with 1 second ahead of me. I like to say I let Jen beat me, however that couldn't have been more far from the truth.  


PS - Running Room was an organizer of this event, which contributed to the reason why I wanted to sign up and represent! Great post race food from chips to cupcakes and beer! :)


Next race on the calendar is the big kahuna Boston Marathon...dun dun dun!! I'm getting excited, but also a little nervous for that big sub 3!


Well, epic cliff hanger, we'll see what Boston holds. 'Til next time!

Race morning cartoon drawn by one of my roommates. :)